On October 24, I came across the NewspaperArchive.com website. I thought it might prove useful in my genealogical researches. There were three plans. $9.99 per month every 3 months, $7.99 per month every 6 months, and $5.99 per month on the yearly plan.
(NOTE: These rates are apparently only good for the first year. It is $119.88 yearly after that!)
I was not aware, when I made my payment, that they set up a recurring payment profile on the account I used to pay the $78.00. At least not until the other day when they zapped $119.88 out of my account and then deleted the profile they had set up! There was no notice email such as "Your account subscription will expire soon." NO! No! They sent nothing at all. They just came along, sucked up the money, deleted the profile, and SHAZAM! They were done.
I would not have even known about it, until I was overdrawn and wondering why, if it hadn't been for the account I used sending an email telling me the profile had been deleted and to contact them if it hadn't been me that deleted the profile. "What profile!?" I ask myself.
That is when I found out how NewspaperArchive.com does business. They are basically forcing me to be their customer for another year!
They seem to feel that they have a right to set up recurring payments without asking you ("... For your convenience, so you don't experience any interruption in sevice..., " like my life depends on NewspaperArchives.com or something right?) AND. If you don't catch them at least 72 hours before they take the money out of your account a year later, at an even higher rate no less, they get to KEEP IT!!!
I do not wish to renew. I found a few articles, but not enough to make it worth my while. They have a few little newspapers in each state, but overall I found about 12 articles that interested me in that year, and about 10 of them I wouldn't have missed if I never found them. I couldn't find anything on people I knew were in newspapers in their day. It seemed to me that it is just a hodge podge collection of small town newspapers for the most part.
NewspaperArchive.com sent me an email saying my account was canceled starting October 24, but when I asked them to refund the money they had just taken out of my account that very morning, they went silent. After several more email attempts, they sent me an email saying that my account would be cancelled as of October, 24!
I am pretty sure that I am not the only one that is sick and tired of companies doing business this way. There used to be a thing called Ethics that seems to have disappeared from this country.
If you sign up to try NewpaperArchives.com, you had better cancel the account you used to pay it with. Otherwise you are apt to be in for a little surprise when your subscription runs out.
If I had read the complaint sites before I joined I would not have signed up. Mine is not a unique complaint for this company.
0 comments